Planet Texas 2050

Texas’ population could double by the year 2050. Extreme weather events will bring more floods, more droughts, and more heat. Our state’s resources can’t support those demands. Making Texas resilient is our grand challenge.

Texas Is Changing

We expect easy access to clean drinking water every day. Reliable electricity 24/7. Clean air, a stable economy, and a safe place to live. These are critical for healthy, thriving communities. Take any one of these away, and our wellbeing and livelihoods can deteriorate quickly.

But in Texas and elsewhere, the looming realities of rapid population growth and weather intensity mean that the things we rely on to live — water, energy, dependable infrastructure, and an ecosystem to support them — are under unprecedented risk.

Here’s why: Texas’ population today is nearly 28 million. By 2050, that number is predicted to double to 55 million, with most people clustered in already-dense urban centers like Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. Limited resources will be in even greater demand.

Add to that the environmental stress from prolonged droughts, record-breaking heat waves, and destructive floods, and what we have won’t be enough.

That’s our current trajectory, but we can still change course.

Planet Texas 2050 is an eight-year sprint to find solutions that will make our communities more resilient and better prepared. To do that, we’re bringing together architects, archaeologists, city planners, public health experts, geologists, engineers, computer scientists, artists — and more.

Just as important, what we discover will have applications that extend far beyond our region. We’ll share our findings, tools, and processes with researchers across the U.S. and the world who are facing similar challenges in the 21st century.

Our Goal: Sustaining Critical Resources

Without essentials like water and energy, the systems we rely on — infrastructure to move goods and people, dependable emergency services, and more — will fail. Our ability to sustain those critical resources at levels that can support massive population growth and climatic shifts is in jeopardy.

Planet Texas 2050 researchers are committed to developing programs and policy recommendations that will improve Texas’ adaptability and build its resilience. To do that, their work will focus on understanding the interconnectedness of four critical resource systems.

Water

How much water do we have, where is it, and how do we get it? Texas has made great strides when it comes to assessing questions of water availability, but we still don’t have all the answers. Our team will consider several water challenges, from measuring water availability today to reconstructing the region’s paleoclimate. Integrating new data will provide a better understanding of Texas’ future.

Energy

We use energy — oil, natural gas, coal, wind, solar, and nuclear power — to move people and commerce, power lights, and heat and cool homes. As populations grow, the mix of energy sources will have to change to meet demand while staying affordable and minimizing environmental harm. Our work will focus on gaining a comprehensive understanding of the state’s energy sources and production capabilities.

Urbanization

Texas’ urban centers will undergo a population explosion in the next 30 years. Unaddressed, this will further exacerbate environmental and health problems, traffic congestion, and affordability. We must better manage water distribution, improve transportation planning, increase the prevalence of energy-efficient construction, and mitigate traffic-related air pollution.

Ecosystem Services

Healthy ecosystems are critical. They give us crop pollination and shade, water filtration and natural carbon sequestration. But as Texas’ population grows and droughts and floods become more severe, the resources our lands provide will be threatened. Our researchers will map Texas’ most vulnerable areas and study what effects population growth and weather extremes have on the ecosystem services we rely on.

Solving a Challenge, One Project at a Time

To address the most urgent issues affecting our region, Planet Texas 2050 is conducting new research, launching educational programs, and partnering with organizations and community groups throughout the state.

Texas Water Stories: Local Narratives of Hydrologic Change and Adaptation

Planet Texas 2050 scientists will be measuring, mapping, and studying water sources throughout the state. At the same time, our researchers will be talking with communities in three key regions … Keep reading

Transportation-Related Air Pollutants and Health

As cities become more densely populated, people will be forced to live in very close proximity to highways, which will increase their exposure to transportation-related air pollution. Proximity to these … Keep reading

Blue Index

Blue Index is a participatory research project designed to gather feedback about 33 waterscapes throughout Austin. Led by Kevin Jeffery, a graduate student in landscape architecture, Blue Index focuses on … Keep reading

Code@TACC

The Texas Advanced Computing Center hosts a series of free summer camps each year high school students. This past summer, TACC introduced Code@TACC Connected, which taught students how to use … Keep reading

Scientist-in-Residence

This program, designed by UT’s Environmental Science Institute, brings current UT graduate student experts into a local teachers’ classrooms to help them develop new, engaging activities and lesson plans that … Keep reading

Graduate Seminars and Project-Based Courses

Planet Texas 2050 faculty lead graduate classes that are open to master’s and Ph.D.-level students across all schools and departments at UT. These courses delve into concepts and issues central … Keep reading

Austin Metro Listening Tour

Before embarking on research of this scale, graduate students, under the direction of research chair Katherine Lieberknecht, spent several months meeting with city and county officials around central Texas. Their … Keep reading

ACDDC Partnership

Planet Texas 2050 is partnering with the Austin Community Design and Development Center (ACDDC) to create a solutions-driven community center. Our pilot project will be a place where knowledge and … Keep reading

Team Members

UT’s first grand challenge brings together researchers from 14 colleges, schools, and units across campus, a number that is expected to grow as more projects are added each year.

Joni Adamson

News & Events

Planet Texas 2050 Research Showcase

Please join us Friday, April 26, for a research showcase in engineering’s beautiful Mulva Auditorium. Planet Texas 2050 researchers and community partner organizations will present their work from the first year and reflect on how we’re doing and where we’re going as an interdisciplinary grand challenge. We’ll also demonstrate tools and approaches we’re developing and we’ll have a mini “field trip” to Waller Creek.

This will be an interactive event with oral and poster presentations as well as discussion sessions and opportunities for feedback. We want to show you the progress we’re making and meet with potential partners who might join us on future projects. Click here to register and learn more.

Imagining Solutions-Driven Community Centers

What if there were a community storefront with a mission to connect residents with organizations and stakeholders that can assist them in co-creating solutions for the challenges they face? What if this storefront were led by the community and for the community, providing space for conversation and partnership?

Q/A: Fourth National Climate Assessment and Texas

Habits for a Highly Effective Disaster Recovery

Dell Medical School’s Lourdes Rodriguez talks about how her academic training and childhood in Puerto Rico give her a keen sense for what it means to prepare for — and recover from — natural and man-made disasters.

A Texas-Sized Solution

They say that what starts here in Texas changes the world, and that phrase has never rung truer than it does today. Extreme weather events and population numbers are on the rise, and Texas is experiencing its fair share of both.

How Climate Change Education Is Hurting the Environment

“Rather than focusing on a return to an idyllic nature and childhood relationship, what is urgently needed is climate change education for young children that is situated within the actual ecological contexts in which all children’s everyday lives are situated — not just the natures that privileged children can access in forest kindergarten and preschools. We need education that values the knowledges and experiences that young children have of the environmental challenges facing their particular contexts.”

Our World Is Changing. Our Water Infrastructure Should, Too.

We need a more nimble and nuanced approach to urban water management, and not only because of climate change and growing urban populations, but because many communities urgently need to address failing infrastructure systems.

Newsletter: We’re Uncovering the Past to Plan for the Future

In honor of International Archaeology Day this month, Planet Texas 2050 researcher Adam Rabinowitz takes us behind the scenes to the ancient city of Histria, in Rome, which was abandoned in the 7th century AD because of a changing climate.

Water for Texas Conference 2019

The 2019 Water for Texas conference will be held at the AT&T Executive Education & Conference Center in Austin, Texas. The conference will begin with a Welcome Reception, followed by a day and a half of educational sessions. All meals, daily coffee, and snack breaks on January 24 and 25 are included in the registration fee.

Can We Leave it All Behind?

Sustainability Brings Grad Students Together

Planet Texas 2050 researcher Steven Richter, from the School of Architecture, joined graduate students from around campus in October for Sustainability Week. His work is part of the Texas Metro Observatory. “What does urbanization mean across Texas? We are looking at interdisciplinary questions, like how socio-economic patterns or changes in the built environment affect municipal water or energy use across the state.”

Newsletter: Thank you, Digital Resource Guide, and What’s Next

We at Planet Texas 2050 and Bridging Barriers are humbled by the success of yesterday’s Austin Family Reunion. A Texas-sized THANK YOU to everyone who braved the rain and the traffic to be with us. We hope you had great conversations, met some new friends, and enjoyed your time in the beautiful space provided by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Addressing the Interconnected Issues of Energy Sprawl

Newsletter: Making All Texas Communities More Resilient

We’re excited to share with you that Planet Texas 2050 is partnering with the Austin Community Design and Development Center (ACDDC) to create a solutions-driven community center. Our pilot project will be a place where knowledge and data meet understanding and implementation, where scientists and city planners stand alongside neighborhood advocates.

Austin’s on the Wrong Side of the 100th Meridian

The invisible line that divides the arid western part of the country from the wetter eastern half is on the move, and that has important implications for the Texas capital. “[The 2011 drought], which was historic in terms of how intense it was, may just be a taste of things to come in the future.”

This summer, the country‘s largest indoor air quality and surface chemistry experiment brings leading experts to the university’s J.J. Pickle Research Campus to participate in an unprecedented initiative aimed at identifying the key causes of indoor air pollution.

More People, More Problems: UT Attempts to Address Texas’ Growing Population

“In our eyes, the only way to meet this challenge is an ‘all boots on the ground’ approach of integrating data and research questions from across the disciplines… Our goal is to get to 2050 with a Texas that is economically vibrant, safe, healthy, and has enough for all who live here.”

Cutting EPA Indoor Air Pollution Research Will Cost Money and Lives

The Trump administration’s 2019 budget proposal reduces EPA funding by 23 percent. Lost in the noise was an even deeper gutting of several individual research and management programs at the EPA, which, if successful, will have great negative impacts on human health and productivity. Planet Texas 2050 researcher and indoor air quality expert Richard Corsi, Ph.D., explains.

Planet Texas 2050 Research Showcase

Please join us Friday, April 26, for a research showcase in engineering’s beautiful Mulva Auditorium. Planet Texas 2050 researchers and community partner organizations will present their work from the first year and reflect on how we’re doing and where we’re going as an interdisciplinary grand challenge. We’ll also demonstrate tools and approaches we’re developing and we’ll have a mini “field trip” to Waller Creek.

This will be an interactive event with oral and poster presentations as well as discussion sessions and opportunities for feedback. We want to show you the progress we’re making and meet with potential partners who might join us on future projects. Click here to register and learn more.

Water for Texas Conference 2019

The 2019 Water for Texas conference will be held at the AT&T Executive Education & Conference Center in Austin, Texas. The conference will begin with a Welcome Reception, followed by a day and a half of educational sessions. All meals, daily coffee, and snack breaks on January 24 and 25 are included in the registration fee.

Imagining Solutions-Driven Community Centers

What if there were a community storefront with a mission to connect residents with organizations and stakeholders that can assist them in co-creating solutions for the challenges they face? What if this storefront were led by the community and for the community, providing space for conversation and partnership?

Habits for a Highly Effective Disaster Recovery

Dell Medical School’s Lourdes Rodriguez talks about how her academic training and childhood in Puerto Rico give her a keen sense for what it means to prepare for — and recover from — natural and man-made disasters.

A Texas-Sized Solution

They say that what starts here in Texas changes the world, and that phrase has never rung truer than it does today. Extreme weather events and population numbers are on the rise, and Texas is experiencing its fair share of both.

How Climate Change Education Is Hurting the Environment

“Rather than focusing on a return to an idyllic nature and childhood relationship, what is urgently needed is climate change education for young children that is situated within the actual ecological contexts in which all children’s everyday lives are situated — not just the natures that privileged children can access in forest kindergarten and preschools. We need education that values the knowledges and experiences that young children have of the environmental challenges facing their particular contexts.”

Our World Is Changing. Our Water Infrastructure Should, Too.

We need a more nimble and nuanced approach to urban water management, and not only because of climate change and growing urban populations, but because many communities urgently need to address failing infrastructure systems.

Newsletter: We’re Uncovering the Past to Plan for the Future

In honor of International Archaeology Day this month, Planet Texas 2050 researcher Adam Rabinowitz takes us behind the scenes to the ancient city of Histria, in Rome, which was abandoned in the 7th century AD because of a changing climate.

Sustainability Brings Grad Students Together

Planet Texas 2050 researcher Steven Richter, from the School of Architecture, joined graduate students from around campus in October for Sustainability Week. His work is part of the Texas Metro Observatory. “What does urbanization mean across Texas? We are looking at interdisciplinary questions, like how socio-economic patterns or changes in the built environment affect municipal water or energy use across the state.”

Newsletter: Thank you, Digital Resource Guide, and What’s Next

We at Planet Texas 2050 and Bridging Barriers are humbled by the success of yesterday’s Austin Family Reunion. A Texas-sized THANK YOU to everyone who braved the rain and the traffic to be with us. We hope you had great conversations, met some new friends, and enjoyed your time in the beautiful space provided by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Newsletter: Making All Texas Communities More Resilient

We’re excited to share with you that Planet Texas 2050 is partnering with the Austin Community Design and Development Center (ACDDC) to create a solutions-driven community center. Our pilot project will be a place where knowledge and data meet understanding and implementation, where scientists and city planners stand alongside neighborhood advocates.

Newsletter: Hurricane Seasons Starts Today

Austin’s on the Wrong Side of the 100th Meridian

The invisible line that divides the arid western part of the country from the wetter eastern half is on the move, and that has important implications for the Texas capital. “[The 2011 drought], which was historic in terms of how intense it was, may just be a taste of things to come in the future.”

This summer, the country‘s largest indoor air quality and surface chemistry experiment brings leading experts to the university’s J.J. Pickle Research Campus to participate in an unprecedented initiative aimed at identifying the key causes of indoor air pollution.

More People, More Problems: UT Attempts to Address Texas’ Growing Population

“In our eyes, the only way to meet this challenge is an ‘all boots on the ground’ approach of integrating data and research questions from across the disciplines… Our goal is to get to 2050 with a Texas that is economically vibrant, safe, healthy, and has enough for all who live here.”

Cutting EPA Indoor Air Pollution Research Will Cost Money and Lives

The Trump administration’s 2019 budget proposal reduces EPA funding by 23 percent. Lost in the noise was an even deeper gutting of several individual research and management programs at the EPA, which, if successful, will have great negative impacts on human health and productivity. Planet Texas 2050 researcher and indoor air quality expert Richard Corsi, Ph.D., explains.